arbitrage

[ahr-bi-trahzh, ahr-bi-trij]

noun

1. Finance.,  the simultaneous purchase and sale of the same securities, commodities, or foreign exchange in different markets to profit from unequal prices.

2. Archaic.,  arbitration.

verb (used without object)

arbitraged, arbitraging 

1. Finance.,  to engage in arbitrage.

arbitrage

/ ˈɑːbɪˌtrɑːʒ, ˈɑːbɪtrɪdʒ, ˌɑːbɪtræˈʒɜː /

noun

1. finance

   1. the purchase of currencies, securities, or commodities in one market for immediate resale in others in order to profit from unequal prices

   2. ( as modifier )

      arbitrage operations

Other Word Forms

• arbitrageur noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of arbitrage¹

1470–80; < Middle French, equivalent to arbitr ( er ) to arbitrate, regulate (< Latin arbitrārī; arbitrate ) + -age -age

Word History and Origins

Origin of arbitrage¹

C15: from French, from arbitrer to _arbitrate

Example Sentences

It’s a perpetual money machine for currency traders, who arbitrage the fat interest-rate differential.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

They provide not just "labour arbitrage" but also "intellectual arbitrage", Mr Mitra told the BBC in an email interview, when asked why Tesco is expanding its footprint.

Read more on BBC

"Hence, for India to capitalise on this opportunity, it needs to complement any tariff arbitrage with serious ease-of-doing-business reforms."

Read more on BBC

I was selling a car that I had arbitraged to rent out on Turo, which turned out to be a poor investment.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

"Because the idea — what happens is if you leave anything off the list, the countries that tried to basically arbitrage America go through those countries to us," Lutnick said.

Read more on Salon